Latching device



SePt- 23, 1941. H. RIGHTMYER 2,256,909

Lucnme DEVICE Filed Dec. 6, 1938 s Sheets- Sheet 1 Z8 1. I E: I p30 P 4 H. w. RIGHTMYER 2,256,909

LATCHING DEVICE Filed Dec. 6, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Sumo/who Sept. 23, 1941.- H. w. RIGHTMYER LATCHING DEVICE Filed D90. 6, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Sept. 23,1941

LATCHING DEVICE Holden W. Rightmyer, Toledo, Ohio, assignor to The American Swiss Company,

corporation of Ohio Toledo, Ohio, at

Application December 6, 193s, Serial No. 244,189

2 Claims.

This invention relates to vehicle door latches but more particularly to latches for automobile doors in which the latch bolt may be retracted from the inside or outside of the door at points spaced longitudinally of the automobile.

An object of this invention is to produce a new and improved door latch mechanism in which the inside operated and outside operated bolt retractors may be simultaneously dogged, slam unlocking being provided so that upon slamming of the door, both retractors are concomittantly rendered operative.

Another object of the invention is to produce a simple and efficient door latch mechanism having the new and improved features of construction, arrangement and operation hereinafter described and for purposes of illustration but not of limitation, embodiments of the invention are shown on the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a door latch mechanism, the inside operatedremote control parts being broken away;

Figure 2 15a vertical sectional view on the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary elevation showing the dogging slide in dogging position;

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view on the line 4-4 of Figure 3; a V I Figure 5 is a perspective view of the dogging slide and adjacent portion of thelatch bolt, the slide being shown in dogging position;

Figure 6 is an elevational view of another form of door latch, the inside operated remote control being broken away, the bolt being released to rotate freely;

Figure 7 is a face view of the lock shown in Figure 6, a part being broken away to show some of the parts more clearly;

Figure 8 is a perspective view of the bolt engaging levers;

Figure 9 is a view similar to Figure 6 with the addition of the keeper structure showing the parts in dogged position, the inside and outside operated retractors being blocked against retracting movement;

Figure 10 is an elevational view of the face or front end of the latch and constituting a section substantially on the line Ill-40 of Figure 9;

Figure 11 is a perspective view of the bolt lever operating plate;

Figure 12 is a perspective view of the dogging plate; and

Figure 13 is a perspective view of the dogging slide.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention shown in Figures 1 to 5 comprises a case. plate In having a selvage plate at one edge suitably apertured to receive the bolt nose l2 which is slidable therethrough to and from latching position. The bolt nose I2 is secured by rivets I3 to a bolt. plate 14, a. spiral spring 15 anchored at one end to the case plate In has its free end bearing against the rear face of the bolt nose l2 .for urging the latter to latching position. The latch bolt is retracted from the outside of the door by a roll back arm l6 which is disposed within a cover plate ll suitably secured to the case plate Ill.

A slide I8 is disposed beneath the bolt plate l4, and has its front end yieldingly held against the roll back arm It by a spiral spring 20. The

slide l8 has a projecting lug is which is adapted to engagea downwardly turned flange 2| on the bolt late l4; so that when the roll back arm is turned, movement will be imparted to retract the bolt nose l2 by means of slide l8, lug l9, flange 2| and bolt plate l4. A rivet 22 is attached to the case plate l0, and passes through suitable slots in the slide l8, and the bolt plate H, to guide and limit the movement of these members. A remote control link 23 is attached to the slide ill by means of a rivet 24 extending through a slot 24a in the link and is operable by suitable remote control mechanism (not shown) mounted on the inside of the door.

A dogging slide 25 is also mounted on the case plate It) by means of. rivets 26 which slide in elongate holes 21 in the case plate I0. This slide 25 is operated by a push button 28 mounted on a rod 29 which extends through the window $111 30 and is movable at substantially right angles to the retracting movement of the latch bolt.

The slide 25 is provided with a laterally extending lug 3i which has an inclined edge 32 adapted to engage a downwardly extending lug 33 on the bolt plate l4, when the slide is indogging position as shown in Figures 3, 4 and 5. As illustrated in Figure 3, the slide I8 is provided with an upwardly extending lug 34 which engages the lower part of the slide 25 where the latter is pushed downwardly into dogging position, thereby blocking retraction of the latch by the outside operated roll back H5 or the inside operated remote control link 23. 4

A coil spring 35 disposed between the dogging slide 25 and the case plate In is provided with I out-turned ends 38 and 38 which extend into by the action of rivets 25 in the slots 21.

when the parts are in the positions as shown in Figures 3 and 5, the roll back arm can not turn because of. the blocking of slide |3 by the g 2,250, to its extreme upper or lower locations as limited dogging slide 25. When the door is slammed the bolt nose 2 will be forced in together with the bolt plate I4 and due to the camming action of the lug 33 against the edge 32 of the lug 3|, carried by the dogging slide 25, the latter is raised out of engagement with the lug 35 on the slide 13, and is then moved into extreme upper position by the action of the spring 35. The retracting mechanisms of the latch are thereupon rendered operable. t.

- From the above description it will be clear to with a selvage plate 5|. to which is suitably attached a housing 52 for carrying the bolt mech- .anisms.

A rotatable bolt 53 is mounted on a rivet 54 passing through the selvage plate 5| and the housing 52. A series of bolt engaging levers,

55, 55 and 51 are rotatably mounted on a ri.et 53, and urged toward the bolt 53 by springs 53, 55 and 5|. A lug 52 is carried by the lever 51, and

tached to the caseplate 53 and passing through a cover plate 33, which is suitably fastened to the case plate 53. The bolt lever operating plate 11 is urged against the roll back arm 5| by a spring 32 which engages a notch 33 in the bolt lever operating plate and is attached as at 54 to the case plate 55. A nose portion 55 on the bolt lever operating plate 11 is adaptedto engage the lug 52 on the lever 51, which through the pressure oi. lug 54 against levers 55 and 55 is capable of moving all three levers simultaneously out of engagement with the bolt 53, which. is then free to rotate.

A remote control link 35 is attached by a rivet 31 to a lug 83 on the bolt lever operating plate 11 and acts to cause rotation in the same direction as that caused by the pressure or roll back arm 5|. -A dogging slide 53 is slidably disposed below the cover plate 33 and is operable by means of .a rod 35 and a push button 3| which projects above the sill. 32.

This slide has projecting tongues 33 extending through slots 34 in the cover plate 85 and is forced into extreme up and down positions by means extends through a slot 53 in the selvage plate 5|.

Lever 51 also has lugs 54 and 55 turned up therefrom so as to engage the levers 55 and 55 to prevent relative movements in either direction.

As shown in Figures 9 and 10, a rubber cushion 10 is attached to the salvage plate 5| and a keeper 1| is attached by screws 12 to the door jamb 13. The keeper 1| has a rotatable nose portion 14 adapted to swing about a rivet 15 against the pressure of a coil spring 15. When the door is closed with insufficient force to effect a complete latching action, the extending arm of the bolt 53 will drop back of the nose portion" thus effecting a safety catch. When the bolt engaging levers are in the positions as shown in Figure 10, they form a locking means against, counterclockwise rotation of the bolt 53.

As shown in Figure 8, the: top surfaces of levers 55, 55, and 51 are at different radial distances from the center of the rivet 53. This constructionpermits the levers 55, 55 and 51 to successively fall into position under the arms of the rotatable bolt 53, being individually urged by springs 53, 50 and 5|. The shortest lever 51 will, of course, slide under the bolt arm first and will tend to force it upward, thus by rotation simultaneously forcing the upwardly extending arm against the surface of the keeper 1 i In a similar manner the next longest lever 55 will be gradually forced into position, followed by the longest lever 55; each successive lever causing a progressive camming action against the arm of the of a toggle spring 35. The bolt lever operating plate 11 has a projecting lug 35 and the dogging plate 13 has an upper surface 31 both of which are in contact with a turned up portion 33 on the dogging slide 33 when in dogging position, the lug 35 providing a positive lock against rotation of the bolt lever operating plate 11.

The dogging plate 13 has a lug 33 which is normally positioned just below the ing 52 on the camming lever 51. When the door is slammed a clockwise rotation of the bolt 53 takes place and by means of the downwardly extending arm on the bolt 53, the levers 55, 55 and 51 are rotated in a counterclockwise direction around the rivet 58. As the mg 52 moves downward from the posif tion shown in Figure 9, pressure is exerted against the lug 33 on the dogging plate 18 which pressure rotates that plateabout the rivet 13 and by the action of the surface 31 against the turned up portion 33 on the dogging slide 33, moves the latter upwardly till it is out of engagement with the lug 35 on the bolt lever operating plate 11, which is thus free to rotate, this action being clearly illustrated in Figure 5.

From the above description it will be seen that both the roll back and the remote control can be simultaneously dogged-by means ofthe push button 3|, dogging slide 33' and associated rotatable bolt 53, and causing the arm of this bolt which contacts the keeper 1| to exert increasing pressure thereagainst to the end that the vehicle door is kept firmly closed at all times,

and looseness or rattle is eliminated. All of the parts, but that upon slamming of the door the retractors are again rendered operative.

It is to be understood that numerous changes in details of construction, arrangement and operation may be effected without departing from the spirit of the invention especially as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In an automobile door latch, a bolt member, inside and outside operators including an inside reciprocating link and an outside roll back arm, a movable device adapted to be actuated to render said bolt member inefiective to restrain the door, means for operatively connecting said inside link and said outside roll back arm to said movable device to enable said operators to so actuate the movable device, a single control device normally in a position where it is disconnected from said movable device but adapted to be moved through a path arranged at right angles to the roll back axis into a position where it will operate to prevent movement of the movable device and also prevent to inside link and the outside roll back from actuating said movable device, a single spring for holding the control device in both of said positions, and means operated by slamming of the door to move the single control device into its normal position where it is disconnected from said movable device.

2. In an automobile door latch, a rectilinearly slidable bolt member, inside and outside operators including an inside reciprocating link and an outside roll back arm, a slidable plate adapted to be actuated to render said bolt member ineffective to restrain the dooi, means for operatively connecting said inside link and said outside roll back arm to said slidable plate to enable said operators to so actuate the slidable plate, a slide normally in a position where it is disconnected from said plate but adapted to be moved through a path arranged at right angles to the roll back axis into a position where it will operate to prevent movement of said plate and also prevent the inside link and the outside roll back from actuating said plate, a single spring for holding the slide in both of said positions, and means operated by slamming of the door to move the slide into its normal position where it is disconnected from said slidable plate.

HOLDEN W. RIGH'IMYEH. 

